US blasts China for Uighur ‘genocide’

The US has ­declared that China is carrying out genocide against the Uighurs and other mostly Muslim people.

Outgoing US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Picture: AFP

The US has ­declared that China is carrying out genocide against the Uighurs and other mostly Muslim people, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo dramatically raising pressure over Beijing’s sweeping incarceration of minorities on his last full day in office.

“I believe this genocide is ongoing, and that we are witnessing the systematic attempt to destroy Uighurs by the Chinese party-state,” Mr Pompeo said on Wednesday AEDT.

“We will not remain silent. If the Chinese Communist Party is allowed to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against its own people, imagine what it will be emboldened to do to the free world, in the not-so-distant future.’’

Mr Pompeo’s vociferous criticism of Beijing has been a hallmark of his tenure but he had earlier danced around directly ­alleging genocide, saying repeatedly that the treatment of ­Uighurs was reminiscent of Nazi Germany’s policies.

He urged all international bodies including courts to take up cases over China’s treatment of the Uighurs and voiced confidence that the US would keep raising pressure.

Rights groups believe that at least one million Uighurs and other Turkic-speaking Muslims are incarcerated in camps in the western region of Xinjiang.

Witnesses and activists say that China is seeking to forcibly integrate the Uighurs into the majority Han culture by eradicating Islamic customs, including by forcing Muslims to eat pork and drink alcohol, which are both forbidden by their faith.

China denies wrongdoing and contends that its camps are vocational training centres meant to reduce the allure of Islamic ­extremism in the wake of attacks.

Antony Blinken, Joe Biden’s pick to succeed Mr Pompeo in his new administration, agreed with the genocide determination, saying in response to a question at his confirmation hearing: “That would be my judgment as well.”

Mr Blinken and other Biden nominees all promised firm action against China, although Mr Pompeo’s statement potentially allows the new administration to avoid the expected blowback by Beijing.

Omer Kanat, executive director of the Washington-based ­Uighur Human Rights Project, hoped the genocide determination would lead to further steps such as a boycott of next year’s Beijing Winter Olympics.

“The implications are enormous. It’s unthinkable to continue ‘business as usual’ with a state committing genocide and crimes against humanity,” he said.

The Trump administration had already taken several steps to pressure China over its treatment of the Uighurs, including blocking all imports of cotton from Xinjiang, one of the major global producers of yarn used in textile manufacturing.

Mr Pompeo, described this week by Beijing as a “praying mantis”, has not been shy about criticising China, but made the determination after extended ­debate on the legal implications at home and abroad.

Previous administrations have been cautious about using the term. George W. Bush’s administration described Sudan’s scorched-earth campaign in Darfur as genocide, while Barack Obama’s administration said likewise about the Islamic State extremist group’s mass killings, rape and enslavement of Christians, Yazidis and other religious minorities.

Legislators across the political spectrum have called on the US to declare that China is carrying out genocide against the Uighurs, saying that evidence was increasingly clear.

In a study last year, German researcher Adrian Zenz found that China has forcibly sterilised large numbers of Uighur women and pressured them to abort pregnancies that exceeded birth quotas. China denied the account, saying that Uighur women were breaking free from “extremism” by using contraception.

AFP